Thursday, February 14, 2013

Manager McGraw of the New York National League club announced tonight that he will take a dentist on the team’s training trip South. McGraw says this will be the first time a major league team has taken along a man to care for the teeth of the players.

According to McGraw the stomach troubles which many young players are bothered with on the training trip are due entirely to poor teeth.

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This has to be the birthday of the fewest known players for me. I've only heard of 2 of the position players.

Earl Smith is interesting. Only 2575 PAs in 12 seasons with a 111 OPS+. Played on 5 pennant winners. His lack of playing time might have been somewhat influenced by his behavior. Quoting baseballlibrary.com:With the champion Giants of 1921-22, he ignored manager John McGraw's signals and defied bed checks. Traded to the Pirates, he hit .313 for the 1925 World Champions and a career-high .346 the next season. He missed a month with the 1927 NL champions when he was suspended for smashing the jaw of Braves manager Dave Bancroft in an unprovoked attack.

Earl Smith was a left-handed hitting catcher who had huge platoon splits, was slower than molasses in January, and who wasn't especially good defensively, playing in what was probably the height of the platoon era pre-1950s Yankees. So he was platooned, and he left a fair number of games early for a pinch-runner or for defensive purposes.

Over his career Smith started 612 games against RHP, just 45 against LHP.

News and notes:
* February 6 is 32-11 since the beginning of June.
* February 21 is 29-71, 38 games out of first place on the morning of July 19. The Manifestos are last in the league in both batting average and ERA.
* February 12 has been the best defensive team in the league. Not a shock considering their Dom DiMaggio-Chet Lemon-Chick Hafey outfield.
* Babe Ruth (February 6) still leads the league in pretty much everything. He leads the league in MVP and Cy Young voting. Hank Aaron and Nolan Ryan are probably the best players in the league not named Ruth.
* Aaron (February 5) is on pace for 33 homers, 101 walks, 116 RBI, 129 runs, 318 total bases, and a distant second in MVP voting.
* Ryan (January 31) leads the league in innings pitched, batters faced, and strikeouts. He's on pace for 18 wins and a 2.89 ERA, to go along with 290 strikeouts in 286 innings.
* J.J. Putz (February 5) has 26 saves, 53% more than anybody else in the league.
* Wilbur Cooper (February 24) went 10.1 IP in his start on July 2.